SUMMARY
Kathleen J. Yost, Ph.D., is an epidemiologist with primary interests in health literacy and patient-reported outcomes measurement. Dr. Yost has over 10 years of experience in outcome measure development and validation, and she is the lead quantitative methodologist for Mayo Clinic's Survey Research Center. Her research focuses on using patient-centered questionnaires to measure experiences of illness and perceptions of health care received, with the overall goal of using this information to enhance patients' quality of life and improve quality of care.
Focus areas
- Developing and validating surveys that capture patients' perceptions of the quality of care they have received
- Assessing health literacy and its impact on patients' health and well-being
- Implementing patient-centered questionnaires at the point of care in clinical practice
- Estimating minimally important differences for patient-reported outcome measures to facilitate interpretation and clinical usefulness of results
Significance to patient care
Much of Dr. Yost's research aims to enhance care by providing patients, caregivers and clinicians with tools to better understand the health care experience and to identify opportunities for improvement.